By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 11 – July 30, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In the Province of Québec, an ambitious project is under-way to consolidate the clinical laboratory testing of 123 laboratories into 11 centralized lab clusters. It is one of the largest lab consolidation projects nowhappening in the world. Among the goals of this project is to improve qualityand efficiency while incurring no additional costs.
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 8 – May 29, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Reporting in The Wall Street Journal shows that some physicians in Arizona were concerned about the harm from erroneous test results from Theranos Inc. But those physicians who expressed concern may have been only a small set of the number of physicians who were worried about patient harm. After reviewing the concerns about
This is an excerpt from a 2,920-word article in the March 26, 2018, issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article is available for a limited time to all readers, and available at all times to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: Here’s the first look for the lab industry at an important
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 5 – March 26, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: A disruptive force that involves precision medicine, pharmaceutical companies, and venture capital investors is poised to reshape the clinical laboratory industry. Genetic knowledge makes it possible to match cancer drugs to specific mutations. Pharma companies and professional investors recognize that control of diagnostic technologies and companion diagnostic tests enable them to gain better access
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 4 – March 5, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: When the American Clinical Laboratory Association filed its lawsuit Dec. 11 against the Secretary of Health and Human Services, one of its main claims is that HHS collected payment data on the clinical laboratory testing business in a manner that was deeply flawed. HHS then used that flawed data to set payment rates
This is an excerpt from a 5,000-word article in the January 22, 2018, issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article is available for a limited time to all readers, and available at all times to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: UnitedHealth made national news when it filed a $100 million lawsuit against
By Pamela Scherer McLeod, from the Volume XXV, No. 2 – January 22, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: UnitedHealth made national news when it filed a $100 million lawsuit against Next Health and other defendants in Dallas in January 2017. The insurer alleged fraud involving clinical laboratory tests. That lawsuit is just the latest chapter in an almost decade-long string of legal proceedings involving the healthcare businesses some of the defendants have
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV, No. 1 – January 2, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Anticipating the negative financial impact of the Medicare 2018 Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, a community lab company serving 24 nursing homes on the Jersey Shore stopped offering such services at the end of last year, a lab director told THE DARK REPORT. “The same forces driving this laboratory to close its nursing home
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV, No. 1 – January 2, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Members of Joint Venture Hospital Laboratories in Michigan anticipate that the 2018 Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule rates being implemented under PAMA will lower payment from Medicare to less than the cost of running tests, especially for rural and critical access hospitals. CMS established the 2018 CLFS under the Patient Access to Medicare Act
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 17 – December 11, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In September, Aetna filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania accusing 14 defendants—including a hospital, a hospital management company, eight lab companies or lab management companies, two physicians, and two individuals—of defrauding Aetna, its client employers, and its members. The lawsuit is an example of a lab test arrangement in which independent lab companies and
